Another Side, Another Story
by Skyblaze
Summary: AU Gen fic. ARK was never boarded, Maria was never killed. Fifty years later Shadow the Hedgehog, the reluctant hero of Mobius, finds a super-fast blue hedgehog among the survivors of the Green Hill floods.
1. Chapter 1

Another Side, Another Story

Prologue:

Space Colony ARK.

A triumph of science and technology. The first ever space-borne habitat, home to several hundred humans and sapients, home to the most advanced scientific research post ever devised.

In one world, the ARK was shut down after a panic was raised over the 'dangerous' experiments being performed on the massive space station. Specifically the research dedicated to the manipulation of chaos-based energy and its affects on compromised immune systems - also known as Project Shadow. Soldiers were sent up to the colony to 'secure' the project, but orders were misinterpreted, the soldiers were over-zealous and most of the people on the colony were slaughtered - except Professor Gerald Robotnik and the being known as Shadow the Hedgehog.

But in another world, something quite different happened…

--

Chapter One

The sun was shining brightly on the chequered pathway that lead out of Emerald Hill and towards Green Hill. A figure was moving rapidly down the road, throwing up a cloud of dust and leaving a glowing trail behind him as he shot forwards at just over seven hundred miles per hour.

A watch-like communicator on his wrist beeped shrilly, and he lifted his wrist to answer the call, slowing down as he did so he stood a chance of being heard over the rushing wind.

"Shadow here." He said into the device.

"Shadow, it's Maria," A female voice said, still sounding warm and gentle despite being slightly roughened by age, "The rescue teams are all assembled and the medical camp is all set up, you're the last one we're waiting for."

"White Acropolis is a long way from Green Hill, Maria," He said with exaggerated patience, "I got here as fast as I could, considering GUN has my Chaos Emeralds right now."

That earned him a light chuckle, though there was limited humour in it, "I'm guessing you're nearly here, then."

"Yes," He replied before hesitating slightly, "Are the press there?" He asked cautiously.

"Shadow, it's a major disaster, of course the press are here - but just the three major news channels so far."

"Damn." He muttered under his breath.

"If it makes you feel any better, we already commandeered their helicopters to help with the relief effort."

"It does, actually." He replied with a smirk, "I'll be with you in a few seconds, Shadow out."

With that, Shadow the Hedgehog, the somewhat reluctant Mobian hero, accelerated again towards the flood-stricken area that was Green Hill Zone.

--

The Zone was a complete mess. Most of the zone was still under four feet of water, and even in the rolling hillside areas the Zone was named for, large pools of standing water slowly turned stagnant under the warm summer sunshine. A thick layer of sand and silt covered almost everything, testament to the strength of the tidal wave that had washed over the once-peaceful Zone. The stink of saltwater, seaweed and rotting fish was everywhere, hanging over the zone like a miasma.

Perched atop the highest point in the zone a large encampment had been set up, the white canvas tents almost gleaming in the sun contrasting against the dark GUN emblem painted on their sides.

Shadow arrived at the gates of the camp and was calmly waved through by the GUN soldiers patrolling the perimeter. He noted with mild amusement that the press had been rather tightly corralled into one small area of the encampment, looking quite sulky as their helicopters buzzed over head doing aerial reconnaissance runs, looking for survivors.

Glancing around briefly, he took in the mood of the camp. Immediately he felt something was wrong. There were several groups of shell-shocked adults, either standing in groups of pairs, some clinging desperately to each other, others slumped bonelessly on the floor with looks of blank shock on their faces… but there were hardly any children. Turning on his heel, he ignored the journalists and the assorted junior GUN personnel trying to get his attention and made a beeline for the medical tent.

The medical tent was busy, many of the beds were occupied with sick or injured Mobians as nurses and volunteer doctors rushed back and forth, attempting to help them all - but once again, hardly any children.

"Maria," he called, just loud enough to be heard over the racket inside the tent.

An older woman in a GUN doctor's insignia turned to him and smiled. As usual, Shadow couldn't help but smile when he saw her. She was older now, of course, and silver streaks now mingled with her golden blonde hair, but her eyes were still as lively and intelligent as ever and to him, she was still the beautiful best friend he had met fifty years ago.

"Shadow!" She smiled at him, moving towards him through the junior doctors who stepped politely aside for her, "You're here at last." Then she took in his expression, "What's wrong?"

He looked up at her, his red eyes troubled, "Where are all the children, Maria?" He asked in a soft tone that only she would be able to hear.

Her eyes clouded for a moment, "The major part of Green Hill village is located on the crest of the hills so most of the adults were safe from the worst of it, but… the school was in the valley near the beach."

He stiffened, hands curling into fists, "I'm going out there." He said abruptly, turning to leave.

"Shadow…" Maria said softly. He swivelled an ear backward to listen and felt a gentle hand on his shoulder as he soft voice said "Be careful and good luck."

He nodded, struggling to keep his face impassive as he went to go find someone to act as his spotter while he headed out into the flood waters.

--

Minutes later, Shadow was leaping agilely from rock to rock as he searched through one of the most heavily flooded areas of the Zone. According to the projections of the environmental scientist he had spoken to, the current would most likely have swept the unfortunate students of the local school to this area, so he and his erstwhile 'partner' were scouring the area. His partner in this instance was an albino bat named Rouge. She hardly seemed old enough to be working for GUN, but since she had the advantage of being able to fly and therefore carry him over any obstacles he couldn't jump or skate around, Shadow couldn't really bring himself to object.

The water beneath his feet made a hissing noise as the jets built into his shoes caused it to instantly evaporate as he skated over another enormous puddle. This area was rocky, the surface uneven and the cliffs around them and ground beneath him riddled with caves - most of which were now flooded, of course, but since not all the caves were flooded out, they would be worth checking. He frowned as he reached the entrance to the cave he had been aiming for and peered inside. Shadow inhaled sharply as he saw a shape moving in the back of the cave.

"Rouge, I've got something." He said quietly into his communicator as he moved to investigate.

As he moved out of the warm sunshine into the chill gloom of the cave, he once again saw something move. His eyes quickly adjusted to the dim light and he realised that he was looking at another hedgehog.

The hedgehog was soaking wet, water dripping slowly off the sharp quills as he lay on the cave floor, curled up and shivering with cold, pain and shock. He - Shadow was certain it was male, even in this light - was also somewhere in early adolescence, perhaps thirteen years of age at most, he couldn't tell what colour the quills were in this light, but they were a fairly dark shade - possibly dark green or blue.

"Hey," Shadow said softly, moving slowly and deliberately so not to startle the obviously frightened hedgehog.

The younger hedgehog flinched, uncurling very slowly.

"It's all right," Shadow said soothingly, "My name's Shadow, can you tell me yours?"

The hedgehog uncurled a little more and hesitantly opened his eyes, Shadow blinked, startled as he encountered a vivid green stare, the bright jade colour visible even in the gloom of the cave.

"I'm Sonic," The green-eyed hedgehog said cautiously, "Are you really Shadow the Hedgehog?"

Shadow smiled slightly, "Yes, I am. I'm here to take you someplace safe."

The younger hedgehog, Sonic, grinned suddenly, "Cool. I get to be rescued by a real hero."

"I suppose so." Shadow said evenly, trying to control his embarrassment. He had never handled hero-worship particularly well. "Come on," He said, offering one white-gloved hand, "Lets get out of here and back to the camp so you can get dried off and cleaned up.

Sonic smiled and reached out the take Shadow's offered hand.

And when he did, the powerful feeling of Sonic's Chaos aura almost knocked Shadow onto his backside.

Author's notes: I'm not sure how, but I suspect this is the fault of either Greyfore or Taranea. Like I didn't have enough on my plate. There might be more of this at some point, depending on what people think and how I feel, but I wanna finish 'Hold On' first, at least.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2 **

Shadow the Hedgehog could drive or pilot pretty much any vehicle on the planet. He was skilled in strategy, could break into nearly any building or facility without trace, he was a supremely accurate shot with most projectile weapons and he even had a higher-education certificate in field engineering. He had never once lost his head in combat and despite his slightly antagonistic relationship with certain members of the press, he could even handle himself in most diplomatic functions. All in all, he considered himself a fairly cool, level-headed individual.

Except with children.

After only five minutes with the young blue hedgehog he had rescued, the Ultimate Lifeform felt like he was losing his mind. Shadow had carried the kid - who had identified himself only as 'Sonic' - back to the medical camp and the squirt just hadn't stopped _talking_ all that time - he barely even seemed to pause for breath. The child seemed to want to know everything - the questions had poured from his mouth like a waterfall, barely giving Shadow time to answer before another inquiry tumbled excitedly from his lips. Had Shadow rescued the entire zone single-handedly? How fast can you run? Who are you talking to on the phone? Is it true you once defeated a dinosaur? How fast can you run? Are you the most powerful GUN soldier they have? _Really, how fast can you run_?

Shadow's head was spinning after the first minute - from the constant chaos aura Sonic was leaking like a broken faucet as well as the endless chatter. Despite the number of times his picture had appeared in the papers, in magazines or on television, he had never been comfortable wearing the 'hero' label, and the fact that Sonic blatantly idolised him made him want to squirm like some embarrassed adolescent. Even now his arms still felt like they had been brushed by something carrying a high-voltage charge, though he had dropped the talkative young hedgehog off with the doctors ten minutes ago.

Trying to pull himself together again, Shadow glanced around the recovery area, where several small beds were lined up in neat rows, each with a medical chart clipped to the end of the bed. This was the low-risk area, so most of the occupants here were fairly healthy, suffering only mild injuries or simple cases of exhaustion and temporary hypothermia. Shadow scanned the patients in each bed, looking for a likely candidate, finally settling on a young armadillo - one of the many children the assorted rescue teams had pulled from the floodwaters.

Moving quietly, Shadow stepped over to the marsupial's bedside and peered down at him. The red, black and yellow armadillo opened sleepy eyes to peer up groggily at the dark spiky shape, probably trying to make Shadow look less fuzzy.

"Guh... don't tell me you're here to take more blood," the 'dillo said blearily, his voice surprisingly gruff and deep for one so young.

Shadow's lips quirked into a brief smile, "No, I don't want any blood, just some information."

The kid opened his eyes properly and then blinked, apparently recognising the dark hedgehog, now, "Hey, man, you're Shadow the Hedgehog!"

"Yes, last time I checked," Shadow replied, his tone dry.

"Dude, you can have anything you want if I can have your autograph."

Shadow suppressed a sigh, "We'll see. What's your name?" Not exactly a graceful start to the questioning, but it would do.

"I'm Mighty," the young armadillo replied easily, his voice and eyes devoid of the horror and loss implicit in so many of the other victims here - either this youngster was more resilient than most or else he had just been lucky.

"Tell me," Shadow said, picking his words carefully, "Do you know a lot of the children in Green Hill?"

"Sure," Mighty shrugged, "There ain't that many. We all go to school together, there's not even enough of us for separate classes. Me, Johnny, Porker and Sonic usually end up together, though, since we're closest in age."

"I brought Sonic back here a few minutes ago," Shadow said, trying to make it sound casual.

"You did?" Mighty said, his voice squeaking into the registers of a younger boy in his excitement, "Oh man, that's a load off my mind. Sonic can take care of himself and everything but... he's kind of a buddy, y'know?"

"I understand, but what do you mean by 'he can take care of himself'?" Shadow asked.

Mighty looked a little uncomfortable, "His parents vanished when he was really little - nobody knows what happened to them. Sonic's been bounced around pretty much every family in the zone since then. I know my folks try hard and I'm pretty sure all the other families do, but..."

"Its easy to slip through the cracks when you're an orphan," Shadow finished for him.

"Yeah," Mighty said, "He's been in trouble a few times, too. Nothin' serious, but he's been reamed out by pretty much every adult in the zone at least once. Uh, but he's a good guy, it's not like he's _trying_ make anyone seriously mad," he added quickly, a friend defending another.

It still made Shadow raise an eye ridge, "Oh? What kind of trouble, exactly? Does he get into fights?"

Mighty shook his head, "Nah, nothin' like that. He just... well, he's just a bit hyper. Mostly the grown-ups just chewed him out for melting his shoes."

"Did you say _melting_ his shoes?" Shadow asked in disbelief.

Mighty rolled his eyes, "Yeah. Man, you would not believe how many times I've heard him get the speech. About how shoes are expensive and he shouldn't be so reckless blah blah blah..."

"How does he manage to _melt_ his shoes?" Shadow demanded. Was the kid some sort of footwear-focused pyromaniac?

Mighty appeared a bit uncomfortable now but then just shrugged again and looked away, "Hell if I know. He just runs a lot."

Shadow's gaze narrowed. The child's tone had remained deceptively casual, but his body language told a different story. Mighty acted as if he had at first let slip more than he wanted to and now still knew more than he was letting on, but he expected Shadow to dismiss him as most adults did. He considered pressing the matter and attempting to drag more information form the armadillo, but abandoned the thought. Mighty's loyalty - if that's what it was - was a commendable thing, and the child had been through enough for one day. The Ultimate Lifeform had other ways of obtaining the information he wanted.

"I see," Shadow said eventually. Then, not saying another word, the black hedgehog crossed over to where his holdall was sat under a desk and pulled out a pad of GUN-branded notepaper with a pen and quickly scribbled the words; 'To Mighty, an ounce of loyalty is worth a pound of cleverness - best wishes, Shadow the Hedgehog.'

Shadow walked back over and handed the slip of paper to the young armadillo. "There, as promised."

Mighty's eyes shone with gratitude as he clung to the bit of paper, "Thanks...dude, my old man is never gonna believe this!"

"Your parents are all right, then?" he had assumed so, based purely on Mighty's attitude, but it was nice to get confirmation.

"Yeah, the doctor lady said we're all heading off in the helicopters as soon as Mom had her arm stitched up - she cut it on something when she was pulling some other people out of the water."

"You must be very proud of her," Shadow murmured, privately impressed by _any_ female who could perhaps single-handly drag what sounded like several other neighbours out of a flood.

"Sure am." Mighty grinned.

"Well then, take care of her - and yourself."

"Sure! And thanks, Mr. Shadow!" Apparently the reminder of his mother let the armadillo remember his manners. Shadow just gave a brief smile and quietly slipped out of the hospital tent, stopping just long enough to grab a towel from his bag as he went to go find the shower block. Today had been long enough already - he needed a long, hot shower to help clear his head.

As Shadow ghosted away, he never noticed the pair of green eyes and the blue body they belonged to, detach quietly from the deep shadows behind the tent and slip stealthily into the make-shift hospital structure.

Mighty had just settled back and closed his eyes, a grin still on his face as he held on to the scrap of paper that held Shadow the Hedgehog's signature. It was a shame he wouldn't be able to rub that in Sonic's face, since the blue brat had been _rescued_ by the famous hero, but he could at least look forward to doing the smug dance to Johnny and Porker... a slight frown touched Mighty's brow for a moment at that thought. He knew Johnny was okay - he and his family had escaped with mostly minor injuries, though Johnny's youngest brother was still kind of sick from inhaling water, but last he had heard, Porker had needed surgery. He wasn't as close to the pig as he was to Johnny or Sonic, but he was still a friend - and still part of 'The Oath' - so he really hoped Porker would be okay.

The sound of feet scuffing against the makeshift plywood floor caused Mighty to open one eye, expecting to see another doctor or nurse wanting to do more tests or something, but both his eyes sprang open wide when he saw the person as the foot of his bed.

"Sonic!" he exclaimed, a wide grin letting his yellow muzzle split in two.

"Shhhh!" the hedgehog hissed, putting a finger to his lips, "You want every guard in the place in here, dude?"

"Sorry," Mighty said, dropping his voice down to a much quieter range, "but seriously, what the hell are you doing, dude? I thought the doctors would be all over you."

Sonic snorted, "They were. I sneaked out when they went off to do tests or something." He grinned suddenly, "Did you hear? I got rescued by Shadow the Hedgehog!"

Mighty smirked back, for once getting to match Sonic's cockiness, "Yeah. He told me when he was in here earlier."

Some of the smug gleam in Sonic's eyes faded, "He was here? Ah, man..."

"Yeah, and I got his autograph," Mighty said, just to rub it in a bit more.

"WHAT?" Sonic exclaimed, at the same time already feeling privately like hitting himself for being stupid enough not to ask Shadow for the same thing earlier. Mighty waved the bit of paper under his nose, being careful not to let the hedgehog snatch the paper out of his hand.

"Wow, dude, that's GUN official stationary!" Sonic said, his eyes wide.

"Well yeah, he does work for 'em," Mighty replied, smirking but trying to keep his voice casual, "He just grabbed some out of his bag."

"His bag?" Sonic said, his attention immediately captured. Mighty inwardly cursed his careless tongue, "His bag is in here? Where?"Sonic asked, quills raised with excitement, letting the hedgehog appear momentarily more like an interested shark.

"Uh... over there, under the desk," Mighty said reluctantly. He knew what was coming, and didn't really want to help his friend get into trouble by rifling through someone's private possessions, but he knew what Sonic was like when he got a bee in his bonnet, and knew the hedgehog would have torn the place apart to find the thing that had caught his attention otherwise. At least this way was marginally less destructive.

Sonic zipped over and peered under the desk, finding a plain black holdall. The zip wasn't fully fastened - which was pretty much an invitation as far as Sonic was concerned - and there were all sorts of interesting items just inside. But this was _Shadow's_ stuff, the Hero of Mobius, the Ultimate Lifeform... and, though he was loath to admit it to anyone, Sonic's own private role-model. The idea of going through Shadow's things felt as wrong as it did irresistible.

After a moment's hesitation and mental wrestle though, curiosity had Sonic's moral principles (which were a bit vague during the best of times...) in a headlock and the blue hedgehog reached into the bag. His fingers gripped something hard and cold which he pulled out carefully. Green?) eyes widened after he had held the shiny black metal object for several seconds but then realised what it was - an ammunition clip for a gun. It felt surprisingly heavy in Sonic's hands, which made the small hedgehog wonder how heavy the rest of the gun was. In the movies people waved them around so easily that it had never occurred to him that they would be the weight equivalent of a small baby.

Frowning, he set the ammo clip down carefully and reached into the bag again, this time pulling out a tiny black cellphone that seemed to be turned off and asked for a PIN code when Sonic tried to turn it on again. Shame. The next item was a book, a slightly battered paperback with the title 'Field of Dishonor' printed on the front. Sonic glanced at it, flicking through it with mild disinterest - he had never really had the patience for reading extensively, though he did enjoy his comic books - and had often wondered what the appeal was. Something fell out from between the pages to flutter to the floor at Sonic's feet.

He picked the object and glanced at it, blinking in surprise when he realised it was a photo - a wallet-sized copy of a much larger print, from the look of it. It was a simple group shot, two humans - a older man and a young woman along with Shadow, standing in what looked to be a garden. The older man was bald save for a large grey moustache, his blue-grey eyes shining with intelligence from behind a pair of glasses, while the woman had blonde-haired and blue eyes that seemed alight with joy and life even from within the still image.

Mighty watched mostly without comment as Sonic rifled through the bag. He debated with himself about the wisdom of mentioning it, but finally decided to say it anyway, "He was actually askin' me about you."

Sonic turned around quickly the photo still loosely clasped in his fingers, his ears pricked forward in a way Mighty found almost comical, "He did?" Sonic asked, his green eyes bright, "What was he asking about?"

Mighty shrugged, "Was just asking about you in general," he frowned for a second, thinking, "He did seem really startled when I mentioned the whole 'melting shoes' thing you do. Seemed a bit weird, since he was cool as a cucumber about everything else."

Sonic frowned for a second, wondering why Shadow would react so strongly to that... his eyes suddenly widened in alarm as some of the possible implications trickled into his youthful brain.

"You... you don't think he _knows_, do you?" Sonic asked, his voice suddenly dropped down to a bare whisper.

Mighty's face seemed to go pale beneath his fur, "He... he _can't_... can he?" Mighty choked, "We didn't tell anyone..."

"What if the doctors here found something?" Sonic said in a fearful whisper.

"Found what, exactly?" Another voice, low and smooth, said from the entrance to the tent.

Startled out of his wits, Mighty shrieked and followed the instincts instilled in him by his ancestry and promptly curled up into a tight, armoured ball. Two metres away from him, although Sonic was equally as startled, the blue hedgehog's automatic reaction wasn't to follow his feral instincts. Instead, the young Mobian shot off as quick as a flash of lightning, away from the source of his surprise, towards the opposite side of the tent. But then, forgetting that he wasn't currently wearing shoes, his feet lost traction on the smooth wooden floor, sending him careening towards the large metal cabinets that housed the spare medical equipment.

The huge metal cabinet teetered for a split second as Sonic came to rest in a crumpled heap at its base.

Shadow, still at the tent's entrance, yelled as he saw the cabinet about to fall – a cabinet that also contained a large metal container in itself weighing more than ten kilos now headed straight for the child's head.

"_Sonic_!" the Ultimate Lifeform all but screamed, his muscles tensing, though he knew that even with his speed he was too far to reach him... and with no Emeralds, he couldn't even Chaos Control to save him.

Sonic glanced upwards, dazed, his mouth dropping open in raw terror as he saw crushing metallic death coming straight towards him...

_To Be Continued..._

Author's Note:I know I said I wouldn't update this until 'Hold On' was done... I may have exaggerated on that point. This will still be of lower priority than my other fics, though.

Thanks as usual to Greyfore and Taranea for helping me get through this chapter.

Oh, and Summer of Sonic was frickin' awesome. It was ace to hang out with fellow Sonic fans.


End file.
